Learning...socially

Collaboration in the classroom has been the primary focus of our professional development this year. Our school leaders have seen the importance of having the students work together for a common goal, and have encouraged us, as teachers, to try different strategies in our classrooms. This is what the social learning theory is all about. We want students to work together, whether they are using technology or not, in order to ultimately help each other learn. Dr. Orey mentioned Lev Vygotsky and his point about having a “more knowledgeable other” who will help the student along the way (Laureate Education, 2011). I have seen students trying to learn from various people, including parents, teachers, peers, and technology as Dr. Orey suggests (Laureate Education, 2011). From my experience, students learn best from each other. They speak each other’s language, share interests, and have the natural ability to bring the content to life as it applies to them. As teachers, we try to do this every day. But unless we are in the role of one of our students completely, we will never truly understand them as their peers can.

Technology can be a great instrument in the social learning theory. Google Drive is regularly used in my classroom. This is, in my opinion, one of the easiest ways to get students to work collaboratively. Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn (2012) mention Google Drive applications several times within their collaborative learning section. Students can be at their own homes and still work together on a project. Two features that I really like about Google Drive is the chat feature and the comments feature. Students today live in the world of texting. Chatting on Google Drive is like the computer version of texts. They can communicate instantly and give and get ideas or suggestions to help improve their overall project. The comments feature is perfect for providing feedback. This could come from either a peer or a teacher. The comment gets put into a bubble on the side of the document for easy viewing, all while leaving the original document in its proper form.

Another technology tool that I am interested in, but have not used, is The Sims (http://thesims.ea.com). We all played the various Sims growing up and know how much fun it is to build a community, a farm, or even an amusement park. The Sims today is more collaborative and focuses on daily life (Pitler, et al., 2012). This would be a great collaborative tool for a class that is focused on culture, or possibly even just for use as a discussion tool. Instead of actually doing the face-to-face interaction, students can be at their own computers working on a project, but using the simulation game as a place to ask questions or get ideas for their project.

The social learning theory is one that is extremely prevalent in student learning today. If we continue to encourage students to work together when appropriate, and show them the various tools available to help them along the way, we could see tremendous things happening in our classrooms.

A third example of a technology that can be used for collaborative work is a VoiceThread. As an example, I have created a VoiceThread that I can show my students as an introduction to a collaborative project. The wonderful thing about VoiceThread is the ability for other people to comment on the work. They can either type their comments or record them through audio. Check it out and see what you think: My VoiceThread.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA”ASCD.

Constructionism In All It's Glory

Constructionism is one of those theories that just makes sense to me. While all theories have a place in my class, this one is front and center every day. The idea behind the constructionism theory is that students create an artifact to share with others in order to learn (Laureate Education, 2011). One class that I teach is focused on using Adobe software applications to design and create various products. The class is set up so that students engage in a lot of self-discovery. In my experience with technology and students today, this is the best way for them to learn. They are constantly using their phones or ipods, helping them to establish a specific schema about how technologies work in their lives. In my class, I encourage students to call upon their prior understandings and see what connections they can make with the new applications. This is an accommodation mechanism, but also encourages assimilation in regards to the new software (Laureate Education, 2011).

Throughout the process of using the new software to create products such as logos, business cards, advertisements, and other items, students are forming hypotheses in their minds about how the tools of the software work and what the final product will look like (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). In order to further encourage the development of these hypotheses, I may pair up the students so they can discuss their ideas with a partner. This has helped open up the lines of communication in my class to the point that I do not have to direct the students to partner up any more. They are constantly working together or discussing a tool or topic of the software, then taking what they discussed back to their products to test it out and see how it works. If it does not turn out to be what they are looking for, they automatically turn back to their partner, or maybe even a different one, to help generate new ideas and hypotheses (Pitler, et al, 2012). Finally, I have the students record their hypotheses and findings into a blog. We use a secure blog resource called Kidblog (www.kidblog.org). This is a way for them to communicate their thoughts and participate in a discussion regarding what tools and processes did and did not work throughout the project (Pitler, et al, 2012). The blog follows along with the constructionism theory in a simple and natural way, as students have to think through the process and call upon existing schema to help discover and communicate new ideas and understandings as they work to link the knowledge to their current situation (Laureate Education, 2011).

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program seven: Constructionist and constructivist 

learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learnCourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E.R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA”ASCD.

Cognitive Learning in the Classroom

The basic idea behind the cognitive learning theory is that learning is an inner mental activity (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). In other words, learners go through a process of hearing the information, translating it in their brains, storing what the brain feels is the important, getting rid of the "fluff", and finally, applying the information that was kept (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). That's great to know, but the real question is how do we use this in our classroom?

Two instructional strategies that correlate with the cognitive theory include:

• Cues, questions, and advanced organizers
• Summarizing and note taking

(Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012)

I like the idea of using advanced organizers in my class. I sometimes struggle with getting students to really understand and apply the basic software tools in computer classes. I have tried several strategies, including fill-in-the-blank and short answer note taking where I provide a question or cue and the students fill in the rest (Pitler, et al., 2012). Sometimes this is a simple word or phrase somewhere in the sentence, while other times I ask a question about, for instance, the next step of a process and the students explain that step in their notes. This strategy has actually proven successful for most students. When they are struggling to try to recall information in a later project, they can refer to those notes for help. The problem I have seen is with the lower level students and their ability to recall specific details from their notes. They might be able to perform a specific function right away, but when asked to do the same thing a week later they may be unable to do so.

I'd like to try using an advanced organizer to try to improve the proficiency in the application of the tools and functions. Students can still take the notes during the lesson, summarizing their learning in the short answer portions and identifying key words and phrases that will help them later on in the blanks provided (Pitler, et al., 2012). However, prior to the notes, students could complete a graphic organizer, such as a Venn diagram, that will help them identify the similarities and differences between software programs (Pitler, et al., 2012). We cover Microsoft Word right away in the course, which is a program that have learned and used during the three years prior to 9th grade. This makes it an easy unit for most students. It's when we move into PowerPoint that students really struggle. What they seem to not understand is that they have already done the same thing with some of the tools in Word, it's just a different program. Organizing this information into a Venn diagram will help them recall that prior knowledge of the tools and help them see where that knowledge can be transferred over to help complete their PowerPoint projects very easily (Pitler, et al., 2012). 

I'm interested in how other teachers have used advanced organizers in their classrooms. This is something I have not used very often, but am excited to try!

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program three: Instructional theory vs. learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.

            ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J.B. (2008). Theoretical foundations. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that
            works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

The use of technology in the classroom is a strategy that can easily fit into every one of the learning theories. However, I can especially see a correlation between the use of technology and the behaviorism theory. The idea behind the behaviorism theory is that learners respond to environmental stimuli, whether it is positive or negative (www.learning-theories.com). This can range from the physical setting of the classroom to how the teacher and other students interact. This can also include how and when a student is praised or recognized for their work.

In using technology to reinforce positive behavior, which again is the premise and goal of the behaviorism theory, we can more effectively and immediately provide feedback to students (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). One example of this would be using a classroom response system like Socrative (www.socrative.com) to complete a short multiple choice quiz or questionnaire. The program will immediately and anonymously show the responses of students in a graph format. At the end of the quiz the results can be emailed to the teacher quickly and easily for reference. This would be great as an informal pretest and posttest for a topic or unit. Using a system like this for that purpose could easily show students how their increased efforts throughout their learning can lead to a higher or more positive outcome. This aligns perfectly with the idea of the behaviorism theory. If students receive a more positive outcome, they could see how their behavior or efforts pay off. However, if they see a more negative outcome, they would either determine that they did not put enough effort into it or that they are not capable of the performance level you are trying them to achieve. This is one reason why the behaviorism theory is criticized as it can have some very negative effects on students (www.learning-theories.com). This is also why it is important to determine the best use of praise and recognition.

Another idea is to use technology for providing opportunities to practice newly learned skills. “In general, students need to practice upwards of 24 times before they reach 80 percent competency (Anderson, 1995; Newell & Rosenbloom, 1981)” (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). Again, in the behaviorism theory, if students start to see positive results, they will be more apt to continue practicing the skill. In my classroom, I use www.freetypinggame.net to assess my students’ typing skills. They start with a base score, which is the first test they complete, then throughout the course they will complete the practice tests on that and other typing websites and attempt the tests again. I provide goals for them to try to reach. My overall objective with this is to get them practicing their typing skills and hopefully show improvement in their time and efficiency. While this might not be a favorite activity of students, it has worked for them in my classroom. I give them the chance to play the practice games and work at their own pace. If a student is getting frustrated with not seeing positive results, I gear them towards the practice games again so they can take a break from that frustration. The behaviorism theory applies when the students both reach and do not reach their goal. Instead of letting them turn towards a negative attitude about typing, I will make sure they take a break from the tests and relax their minds. I also remind them constantly that this is a no-pressure assessment. It does not affect their grades. However, if they reach certain levels of typing, I will reward them in order to keep them motivated to try harder.

I think there is a line we have to be careful of when we are calling on the behaviorism theory. If we praise them for every action they do that is good instead of just the outstanding work or behavior, we could lose the effectiveness of that praise. However, if we don’t praise students enough or for the right things we could see a negative behavior start to form from those particular students. It comes down to knowing your students as individuals and doing what is best for them. We could use all the instructional strategies we want and call upon as many learning theories as we want, but if we are not paying attention to our students and doing what is right for them, we could lose our effectiveness in the classroom.

Resources

“Learning Theories.” 2003. 5 Nov. 2013 <http://www.learning-theories.com>

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.